news release

M&A deal activity falls during Q1 2012, according to Experian

Scotland and the South West of England buck the UK trend

Manchester, April 2 2012 - Experian^®, the global information services company, today revealed that the total number of mergers, acquisitions, flotations, rights issues and placements announced during Q1 2012 fell by 19.8 per cent.

The number of deals announced fell to 944 in Q1 2012, down from 1,177 in Q1 2011.  However, Scotland and the South West were the only regions to see deal volumes increase, up by 14.9 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively.

The value of UK deals during Q1 saw a significant increase of 62.8 per cent compared to Q1 2011, led mainly by one transaction - the Glencore International Plc acquisition of Xstrata Plc for £39.1billion.

Cenkos Securities was the most active financial advisor by volume with 18 deals, while Goldman Sachs topped the value league with transactions worth a total of £45.5bn. The leading legal advisors were Pinsent Masons by volume with 18 transactions and Linklaters with £48bn total deal value from 13 deals.

Wendy Driver, Business Development Manager at Experian Corpfin, said: “Despite an overall fall in the volume of deal activity, two regions still managed to buck the trend and values in five of the UK regions were up, influenced mainly by the biggest deal ever in the mining and quarrying industry.  It was also among the highest-valued transactions in UK corporate history.  This highlights that firms are managing to find the funds to invest.” 

Europe and the rest of the world

• There was a UK element in 48.56% of all European transactions, up from 41.68% in Q1 2011. In terms of value the UK contributed almost 62.84% of the European total for Q1 2012.
• Europe saw a 31.13% decrease in M&A and ECM transactions announced during Q1 2012 with 1,945 deals compared to 2,824 transactions in Q1 2011.
• The downturn in volume has had the expected effect on value, with European transactions decreasing by 28.40% compared to Q1 2011. There was £120.603billion worth of deals recorded in Q1 2012, down from the £168.438billion worth of transactions announced in Q1 2011.
• The majority of the UK’s cross border deals during Q1 2012 were with the USA, with 124 transactions, followed by Germany, Australia and France, all with 21.
• In the USA volumes were down by 30.96%, and values were down by 36.88% compared to Q1 2011.
• Asia Pacific also witnessed a decline in both volume and in value during Q1 2012, by 25.01% and 28.57%, respectively.

Table 1: Comparison of Regional Deal Activities 2011

Table 3: Top five countries dealing with the UK in Q1 2012

For more detailed reports, please visit: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer-information/experian-corpfin-resources.html

ENDS

Contact:

Miss Serj Heera 

PR Manager

0115 992 2773/07837 652169

serjeet.heera@uk.experian.com

Notes to editors

*Where consideration disclosed

Deal information is based on transactions announced between 1^st January and March 23^rd, 2012 for 2012 figures, and between 1^st January and 31st March 2011 for 2011 figures. Target, bidder or parent of either party must be located in the region that is analysed in order to be included. The deal value of transactions covered in this report is £500,000 or above. Deal activity analysis referring to deal values is based on disclosed actual figures only. SME analysis is based on companies with a turnover of up to £20million including undisclosed. Large company analysis is based on companies with a turnover of more than £20million.